The Voices of Angels

Getting ready to go!

Last night was Maddy's school Christmas music program for the K-4 grades! Oh my -- it was so special! I absolutely love hearing their little voices and the wonderful Christmas songs. It's fun to see the boys and girls out of their uniforms. The boys were squirming around like they could barely stand still and giggling at the girls, while the girls were smiling angelically (is that a word?) -- it is now! The church was really dim, so it was extremely difficult to get any good pictures.

Maddy and one of her Bestest Friends

Maddy was so thrilled to pick out a special dress a few weeks ago. A sweet blog and real life friend make her that lovely flower barrette! Previously, she fussed and put any barrettes I attempted to place in her hair, smack on top of her head. It made for a somewhat weird look. But, she seems to like these and is willing to wear the ones Kim makes. Now, she's hooked and we have new addiction to feed! :)

Maddy and Mr. Tennis

Sing Along -The Weather Outside Is . . .

Frightful!

Yes, the weather has been frightfully snowy and cold!! That manic drive home on Sunday was nothing compared to the dumping of snow and the Artic frost we've been enduring the last few days! Shocking -- the office closed early on Tuesday -- totally unheard of and school has been out for 3 days now! Luckily, my little red jeep gets us around pretty darn good. Mr. Tennis doesn't want to take his newish vehicle out in this snowy and icy weather, so he's put on a new hat and become Mr. Chauffeur! Really, you should see his hat -- it's something else. I'll try to sneak a photo some time. I do love home to office curbside service!

Luckily, the snowblower is working, even though it had to go in for a quick service call on Tuesday. The Rickster is one of those neighbors who likes to do everyone's front walk (yes, he is sweet like that). But, after he did that Tuesday afternoon and had just started on our long driveway, a belt blew! AAACK!! Off to Ace Hardware. I'm so happy that they were able to fix it. I did manually shovel the front steps and walk to the house and that was plenty for me!

If you thought I'd get some holiday baking or something useful accomplished during the snowstorm, you'd be wrong, unfortunately. I did do some Internet shopping, but am still a bit behind due to the bad weather. Think I will try some marathon shopping, baking and wrapping this weekend!

My updated wreaths and garland by the front door look even better with a bit of snow on them, so I guess there is a bright side to the snow!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

First, the GOOD! On Sunday, Maddy and I ventured to our nearby big city to attend a holiday Mulberry Lane concert. Maddy's sweet sister (in-law), Catherine, joined us and so did my twin and her daughter. My Mom was not feeling up to going out to the concert, but we were able to visit a bit with her before it. The concert was so sweet and definitely got us all feeling all Christmasy!

(Snow Bear went along on the ride -- should have known snow was inevitable! Did you notice -- it's even snowing on my blog! )

I suppose the weather was also trying to get us in the holiday mood as it started to snow. In my book, that was BAD. I'm not the most confident highway driver under the best circumstances, but blowing snow . . . yikes!!!

And that turned into the UGLY part of the day! Oh my word!! We were about an hour away from home when the snow started and it was blowing all over the highway. At least it wasn't sticking and getting icy yet. We were on a two-lane highway because I'm afraid of the interstate. There, I admitted it -- go ahead and laugh. But seriously, the speed limit on the interstate is 75 and most people consider that a suggestion and go much faster! The sweet little two-lane highway speed limit is 60, much more manageable. Anyway, the snow was blowing all over the place, nearly white-out conditions at times, making me more and more nervous. I was able (barely) to see the lane marker lines and then started to worry, what about the cars coming towards me? Could they see the lane markers or would they accidentally veer into me head-on? I'm my own worst enemy, aren't I!

We were listening to some Christmas music, but I had to turn it off as it was a distraction. So, guess what we did? Prayed -- out loud! I said, let's pray the rosary, so we started on Hail Mary's. Of course, Maddy says we didn't really pray the rosary as we didn't count the Hail Mary's or say the prayers in between the decades of the rosary, but I had enough to think about without all that. I did have a little freak-out moment when I had to pull off in one of the small towns along the way and call Mr. Tennis so he could calm me down a little. Back on the highway, I started to visualize my little red Jeep being protected from above. As we neared Lincoln, the roads started to get more snow-packed and icy, but we kept on with the Hail Mary's and were able to get home safe and sound, where I promptly collapsed in a heap!

Packrat Confession

Isn't the first step to solving a problem admitting that it exists? Yes, it's true -- I'm afraid I'm a bit of a packrat and I'm a teensy bit embarrassed!

Once again we have a painting project going on in December! Why do we do this? It puts me way behind on decorating, shopping, partying (who me, party??).

This year's project is not a big one (like last year's) and I really did try to get it accomplished in September, October or November, but the painters had other more lucrative jobs. The project -- repainting the kitchen cabinets. So, why you ask, am I embarrassed?

Well, the painters took the cabinet doors off and opened the drawers to sand and paint. What I didn't quite realize was that all of my cupboards were so incredibly messy! Who knew that all 11 or 12 of the drawers in my kitchen were junk drawers? Yeah, some weren't closing very well, but I just didn't use those, stashing more papers and junk in the ones that would open! Clever, eh!!

Last night when I got home and saw the mini-disaster and all that "stuff" about to fall out of my cabinets, I immediately began to throw out stuff. Yay for me! Guess what the oldest "use by" date was? Give up? 2002!!!! Stuff that has a "use by" date of 2002 is still ok, right?

Oh yes, the majority of "use by" dates were 2008 and 2009, but also saw some 2007 and a few 2005. Canned goods evidently tend to move to the back and be forgotten.

Hey, I found something even older than 2002 -- a little box of "To Go Tea" from China. This amazing tea is often given to adoptive parents in China for the kiddos who are having a bit of issue with pottying due to all the trauma and stress going on. Anyway, the box looks to be dated 2000 which is a bid odd as we didn't even meet Miss Maddy until 2003. Not to worry, even if it was already outdated, it did its job. Such a cute little box, I had to keep it!

A New Pet . . . Please Welcome

Froggie!!

I could tell that Maddy and Mr. Tennis were up to something recently, but I wasn't sure what they were plotting. When I got home one night last week, I thought Janie (the fish) and her little fish bowl looked different somehow. Upon closer review, I could tell there was a new guy in the house.

Froggie, the dwarf clawed frog, moved in with Miss Janie. He is a tiny little guy, but jumps all over the place and has really pepped Janie up. Janie used to barely swim and many times, I worried she was ready for her final journey down the potty. Now that Froggie is in there with her, she's busy keeping an eye on him and moving a lot more. Note to self: Stay Alert -- Mr. Tennis and Maddy are not to be trusted when it comes to pets!

Oh So Thankful!

Can't possibly let this special Thanksgiving holiday pass without doing a little early Thanksgiving edition - Thankful Thursday. And so, I am very thankful this year for:

• My dear sweet Mother who is battling cancer and does so with grace and beauty and no complaints.


• My sainted Dad who doesn't mind that I call him "Al" and he sits waiting by the phone (so he says) for my daily calls.


• My own little family - Mr. Tennis, Philip & Catherine, Connor and Miss Maddy -- they make my life complete.


• My friends in real life, at work, my neighborhood and my bloggy friends -- so happy and blessed to have all of you.


• My twin sister who is hosting Turkey day for us and her many relatives.


• My favorite Thanksgiving dish, not turkey, not stuffing, not pie -- though I do love all of those, but Fudge, that I am making -- yum!


• My job -- thankful to have one and so many friends at work who make it a pleasure to come to work every day!


• My faith -- I know there is power in prayer and feel it, especially this year.


• Decent weather -- I know this is vain, but the cooler, less humid weather is so much kinder to me and my hair!

I could go on and on, as you can probably tell.

Best wishes to all for a very happy Thanksgiving.

Sprucing Up the Wreaths and Garland

(From Pottery Barn)

The race is on to get the house decorated for the holidays! I will admit, we have kind of a crazy street. Lovely, but crazy. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, spruces up and decorates outside. Some (and I'm not mentioning any names) have gone to the extreme and light up the entire outline of their house along with every single tree and shrub in their yard. That's a bit much for me, especially since I know we would end up tripping over extension cords everywhere. Definitely glad I don't live across from that flashing strobe light house!

Mr. Tennis has two large wreaths he puts up on the house. I don't know how since we have a brick house, but he figured it out years ago, so up go the wreaths and then we put spot-lights on them to make sure everyone sees them! (Clever, eh!!) This year, I mentioned that the wreaths with their requisite red cheesy bows were starting to look a little worn. So he got the wreaths down for me and I spruced them up with some lovely red and silver ornaments. Who needs bows when you've got giant ornaments?? And then I did the same to every other wreath we own (who knew we had so many?) and the five that he bought at Wal*Mart (yes, a little wreath crazy perhaps). Turned out great! Half-price ornaments at Hobby*Lobby, some twisty-tie stuff and voila -- gorgeous ornament filled wreaths and garland!

Now, Mr. Tennis has to figure out stringing up the lights, but we'll probably wait until it's 10-15 degrees with ice or snow to do that. No need to do everything on a warmish 50 degree November weekend, right!